Letters to the editor: 7/14

Obama foreign policy makes U.S. 'irrelevant'

Apparently President Obama's utopian world does not account for dealing with the "bully effect" from foreign dictators.

Why does Obama intercede in the name of liberty in Libya, but not Syria? Simple - one has oil and the other doesn't.

President Bashar Assad now steps boldly across Obama's line in the sand, the "game changer" calling our president's bluff by using those chemical weapons Obama warned him against. To what end? Providing small arms? Really? Were it not for the many lives forsaken in the wake of Obama's promises, this might actually be funny.

But as bullies go, and mind you the prerequisite for any dictatorship is the satisfaction of oppression, Russia and China now snub their collective noses at our request for Snowden who now, supposedly tours the globe with four laptops potentially full of classified information critical to our national defense.

Last year, the U.S. extradited some 1,500 Russians back to their homeland without incident.

Or how about China's repeated breaching of those firewalls protecting our highly classified defense documents?

In the real world, Obama's elitist, stoic contrition to even those nations we've liberated and rebuilt has only invited oppression from notorious oppressors.

It has taken centuries and countless brave American souls to establish this nation's influence and credibility. We as a country have, in a mere five years, been relegated to irrelevance and insignificance among even our allies.

All the while, Obama unaccountably impugns Americans by adding further provisions within the very Patriot Act he once condemned.

Steven P. Clum

Montgomery

Medication is not cure-all for people with ADHD

In spite of the June 24 article's claims, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder continues to be overdiagnosed and overmedicated ("Underdiagnosis of ADHD begins early among minorities"). Children and adults who experience trouble concentrating, remaining focused or carrying through on assignments may or may not be suffering from an underaroused brain. These problems may be caused by a hyperaroused brain, anxiety, subclinical brain injuries due to head-to-head contact in football or soccer, and other sources.

The routine treatment with medication does not solve the ADHD issue. Remove the medication, the problem is still there. Stay on medication and in a fairly short period of time the medication begins to fail. New medications are then tried and the resulting outcome is the same. The best long-term study looking at the effectiveness of ADHD medications found no differences in performance with ADHD children not on medication after three years. In addition, children who are placed on ADHD medication do not fare any better than non-medicated ADHD children with regard to: automobile incidents, drug experimentation or criminal activity.

Quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) offers an objective assessment opportunity and neurofeedback provides a non-invasive, medication-free treatment approach. The American Academy of Pediatrics now recognizes neurofeedback as having best support for the treatment of ADHD. It is time to stop overmedicating our young people and adults.

Dan Meyer, PhD, BCB-N

Clinical Director, Hudson Valley Center for Neurofeedback

Past president of the Northeast Regional Biofeedback Society

Poughkeepsie

Attacks on man against women in combat unfair

It is time to protect Mr. Tom Malone from progressive feminists who have been writing in to the Poughkeepsie Journal and calling him a bigot, inane, chauvanistic, sexist, ignorant and suggest he move to Iraq (" 'Girls' and 'gays' reasons why there are rights" July 7). And all because he doesn't like the idea of his mother, sister, daughter, or any other woman or girl being put into war combat units ( "Women don't belong in military combat" June 26).

Combat can mean different things - hand-to-hand, killer drones, slap and spit, Navy SEALs and even verbal exercises at the United Nations. Culture wars rage on and we are all in, like it or not.

The subtle "victimhood" weapon is used in the court system and can be deadly, even for the innocent. Whoever cries "victim" first gets advantage in the human rights battle so watch your tongue.

The right to life has already been stolen by the Supreme Court, liberty is always precarious and the happiness we would pursue is being defined for us by a smug ruling class who believe they are smarter than most.

The name-calling goes on and truth is being buried in muck.

Mr. Tom Malone is a fine gentleman and deserves respect like the rest of good people.

Lola Schurman

Poughkeepsie

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Letters to the editor: 7/14

Apparently President Obama's utopian world does not account for dealing with the 'bully effect' from foreign dictators.